Farron: Extra GP Funding Must Go To Rural Practices

South Lakeland MP Tim Farron has welcomed the announcement today that GP practices will be given an additional £2.4bn per year by 2020, but has insisted that the government must follow through on its commitment to provide funding for rural practices.

The Head of NHS England today set out a five-year plan for the NHS in the 'General Practice Forward View'. The plan announces that the NHS will earmark an extra £2.4 billion a year for general practice services by 2020/21. The plan also commits the NHS to develop "a new funding formula to better reflect practice workload, including deprivation and rurality", which should be finished in summer 2016.

Tim has welcomed this news as "a much-needed boost" to GP services, however has insisted that the changes to the funding formula must lead to additional support for rural surgeries.

Tim said: "The announcement of extra funding for GP services will provide a much-needed boost to practices that have come under increasing pressure in recent years. However, the government's action must now match its rhetoric when it comes to the new GP funding formula. I have long called for the government to do more to support services in very rural areas, and the planned funding formula changes must lead to real reform. Rural GP surgeries may not be as economically efficient as those in urban areas, but they provide critical services to their communities, and must be given the necessary funding."